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MLSNet.comEDIT: As of today May 30, MLS broadcaster Greg Lalas agrees with our penalty of a points deduction and fines.
Over the last 5 days a lot has happened since someone posted a video of an anonymous Columbus Crew fan hurling racist epithets at an African player for the New England Revolution. We decided that rather than shy away from the story we'd report everything we could find out about the incident and any linkage between Crew fans and organized hate groups after someone sent us some artwork for a band associated with Nazism that had a striking resemblance to a Crew supporter's logo.
Since then, much of the soccer community has denounced the fans who were involved and MLS Commissioner Don Garber released a statement that the matter is under investigation. A second video shot from a 2nd vantage point surfaced on youtube where two more racial epithets are heard and this video aired on a Columbus TV station's 11 o'clock news last night with an eyewitness who reported multiple people throughout the game made multiple racist statements.
Throughout our own investigation we found a "circle the wagons" and siege mentality among most Columbus people regarding this incident. The idea is that it would have been better if the whole thing was not reported here.
We disagree. It would have been a better thing had the incidents not happened at all. But since they did, the best course of action would have been for the people present at the game near these people, the ones who swear they themselves are not racist, turn them into the league front office. Instead however there seemed to be mostly silence from Columbus. To be sure, the Crew Front office came out with a statement denouncing the actions of some supporters but the Crew supporters groups did not immediately step up and say something such as: "We are very shocked and dismayed at what happened and will do our best to find out who these people who brought the scourge of racism to Crew stadium."
Instead they decided that among other things, we, MLS Rumors are the problem for reporting it.
Not only that but they enlisted people who we once respected like Bill Archer and Mike Lastort in an on-going misplaced effort to tear us apart and "take down" our site.
In fact what makes it all more absurd is much of the vitriol was and aimed at a woman who no longer is involved with MLS Rumors at all, some of the postings in the comments section from Mike Lastort directed at her in particular were particularly nasty though all of them seem odd since we've not heard from her since sometime in mid February. Her biggest mistake was deciding to no longer be anonymous. We wish her well and hope she did not have to read some of the puerile comments made about her.
That said, we are a collection of 9 writers and 3 editors, some anonymous and some not located in 4 countries, and we respect the two people who originally launched this site last summer and gave us the idea to get involved. An attack on either of them is a back handed attack on all of us who do not do this for money but for love of the game and for more cutting edge coverage of the league than we've typically seen in this country.
This is the reason the site comments are currently under moderation.
We believe the people involved in trying to shoot the messenger would be far more respected if they did the honorable thing and spent as much time and energy going after the racists amongst them, rather than giving tacit approval in protecting them.
We also believe that there are a lot of good people in Columbus, and good Crew fans and supporters who are likely to do just that.
Today's Columbus Dispatch for example points out:
"The supporters I talked to and general manager Mark McCullers said they were confident they could identify the person who made the slur. McCullers said that person would be banned from the stadium.
There will be steps taken to step up the self-policing of the sections. The supporters group members vowed to ramp up their efforts in identifying those breaking the rules (i.e. no throwing stuff other than streamers). They also mentioned that a public-service announcement informing fans of the rules might be played on the stadium’s video board before games."
We hope that they are successful, though the fact that it has taken so long to identify the persons (as it is now clear there was more than one involved), is troubling.
That said, MLS is continuing their investigation, as is the Crew front office who apparently have a photo of the man who shot the first video. Eyewitnesses are being interviewed by local media, and the league, and so our role in bringing this story to light has come to a close.
We believe that the following measures should be taken by the league to serve as a warning to any and all fans who would act out in such away again:
The people, if they can all be identified need to be banned from Crew Stadium for life.
If the people who made the racist remarks can not be identified that means that they are most likely being protected, and in such cases in Europe the following measures can be taken.
Indeed, soccer magazine 90:00 minutes agreed that the people who did nothing to stop the racists are just as guilty as the racists themselves so any real punishmentt should take that into consideration as well.
Supporters banned from next match (we believe this should happen regardless of whether the racists are identified as it sends the message loud and clear: police yourselves or you're not wanted.)
Points deduction: This punishes all Crew fans not just the supporters. Since the supporters are saying these racists were not in their section, then this is a proper course of action that would affect them. Obviously the racists care about the Crew's standings. If you can't find them and ban them, then deduct points from the team. Perhaps the next time the community around them will not be so prone to protect their identity.
Fines: The Crew front office made a mistake in not cracking down immediately when the first hard objects were thrown during the game at players taking a corner. They should be fined as a result.
It seems most of you agree with this. As of this writing, in the poll we are conducting half of you are in favor of either one or all of those punitive actions.
On the matter of people trying to shut MLS Rumors down. We take a dim view of people trying to silence any site, under free speech concerns and an even dimmer view when it is to hide a racist, or a problem with racism among a club's supporters, fans, or if we believe them, some people not affiliated with either that just so happened to be a Crew Stadium.
That said, know that there is an effort underway to do just that, and they have decided to go after us as well as our sponsors. If you want to keep this site alive speak out and let your voices heard.
We have in the last 5 days received everything from disgusting letters supporting the "free speech" rights of the racist to death threats and even more comical, threats of lawsuits. We have consulted with an attorney, in fact we have one as an editor and nothing we have posted violated any law or code. We report rumors in all forms.
Just as we will not shy away from any story, we will not back away under threat and duress neither.
We hope that you, as an avid reader of MLSR shout down racists when you hear them and shout down the people who would give aid and comfort to the racists, by shutting us down for bring this issue to light.
With the summer transfer window opening we must prepare to be busy reporting the lasted rumors of players coming or going to/from MLS.
Some Crew fans still are trying to make light of the whole situation, and doing more damage in the process as seen below:
myshap
BigSoccer Member+
Join Date: Jun 2002
Club: Crew de Columbus Re: What is up with MLS Rumors?
Our two newest supporter songs
Der Fuehrer's Face
When Der Fuehrer says, "We ist der master race"
We HEIL! (phftt) HEIL! (phftt) Right in Der Fuehrer's face
Not to love Der Fuehrer is a great disgrace
So we HEIL! (phftt) HEIL! (phftt) Right in Der Fuehrer's face
When Herr Gobbels says, "We own der world und space"
We HEIL! (phftt) HEIL! (phftt) Right in Herr Goring's face
When Herr Goring says they'll never bomb this place
We HEIL! (phftt) HEIL! (phftt) Right in Herr Goring's face
Yes! We have no bananas
YES! We have no bananas
We have no bananas today
We've string beans, and HONions
Cab-BAH-ges, and scallions
And all kinds of fruit and say
We have an old fashioned to-MAH-to
Long Island po-TAH-to
But YES! We have no bananas
We have no bananas today
We now will await the culmination of the league's investigation and any actions they might take. Unless there is something new to report, we are done with the Columbus issue until then.
Silence is not an answer.
I want to be the first to thank the Columbus fans for ruining everything for the rest of the MLS clubs. Soon there will be a major crackdown on everything from standing, cheering, flag waving, etc. Thanks Columbus, we now have more reason to hate the fans and there shitty club
As a Crew fan and supporter (season tickets from day 1), I can honestly say that I hope the people who yelled those remarks are banned from the stadium. As well as anyone who threw something besides a streamer. I sit in a different section, but close enough to hear most of the chants. It is difficult to hear individual yells. The sections of Nordecke have been a great lift to the atmosphere of the stadium. I want them to stay. I talked with one of the 'officers' of one of the groups after the NE game and he was definitely 'pissed off' with what had happened (the hard items thrown for certain, I don't know if he heard or included the racist remarks). I have no problems with your site reporting on this, or any of your people sharing their opinions about the issue. That is what this is for. Your site will hopefully put pressure on the clubs and MLS to crack down on this more. I remember DC / RFK personnel protecting our traveling group from people who were just looking for trouble, not real fans. Good luck to you and keep up the good work.
I say kudos for the excellent job....I have loved MLS Rumors since it's inception, and have to say that the quality of writing has gotten better and better and the topics covered and investigated have gotten better and better...
Keep up the good work!
You all acted throughout the entire thing as if you were the target because of being the messenger in this whole mess. To be fair, let's be honest here about this. At times you were fair in this "investigation" and at times you were not.
It may be time for you all to shed your anonymous tags and really let us all know who you are so we get a better understanding of your group of writers/editors. I think the biggest problem people have with this site right now isn't the fact that you all took a strong stance at this issue and with others in the past, its because we really never know where your are coming from. I totally get if you want to remain anonymous here but there has to come a point where you let us know something about you. People will learn to respect you more if they know more about you. I know that would help me out a bit to understand why you all report the way you do here. Just my two cents.
Thanks for trying your best at all of this though, as these subjects are never easy to tackle.
where was all this hate towards Columbus before this incident?
I did not grow up in Columbus, actually just moved here from Pittsburgh two years ago, but I love this place. Love the people, love the city, and love my Crew. I have met so many great people here, became involved in a great supporters group, even traveled up to Toronto this year and had a great time with Toronto Red Patch Boy supporters (actually know Connie pretty well)up there at Shoeless Joes after the match.
Yet, I now just realize that we are the ugly brother of the MLS? I guess I just don't understand it anymore. If anything, i can tell you my blood boils every time I read some of these comments about my Crew, my friends, my city that are posted on this site. It would be better if we all stopped that name calling, finger pointing, etc. and worked together to make sure this is the last time something like this happens in the MLS.
Would NY, DC, Chicago, etc be getting this much shit if it happened at one of those cities. In fact, former Crew player and MLS employee Dante Washington, has stated he was called the N word while playing for the Crew at a match in Dallas a few years ago. So no, this is not the first incident, and it is something we all need to work on to eliminate.
I am posting my name, because I feel strongly about this.
-Brad
Columbus, Oh
Well done MLSR. Keep up the good work. The bunker mentality/ backlash from Columbus supporters is apparent to all of us, and is yet another symptom of an American culture that is reluctant to accept any form of personal responsibility. Let's just hope Columbus keeps up the excellent atmosphere they've been producing recently while at the same time forever ridding themselves of the racist filth that have disgraced the yellow and black.
Am I the biggest MLS Rumors fan out there? No. However I fully support your rights to say anything you wish to say, with a couple of caveats:
1) Call opinion what it is, opinion
2) Watch "All the President's Men" Look at how much work Woodward and Bernstein needed to do to confirm everything they wrote before publishing it. You folks need to do the same sort of thing wherever possible.
overall I think the Crew fans are shooting the messenger here. But last time I looked it was their fans spewing hate and throwing lit smoke bombs at opposing team players and not MLS Rumors. That and they have officially brought the clampdown upon us. Streamers, flagpoles and the like are probably going to be banned now as a result of some really infantile actions on the part of a couple of people claiming to be "supporters".
Thank you MLSR for standing your ground on this. I can say that I will not be going back to Columbus especially after this. When I went with my fellow TFC supporters, I dealt with comments that were directed at the colour of my jersey...but I felt thay some comment had an undertone that were recially motivated. Obviously I thought nothing more of it, but since this has surfaced, I can tell you that I'm not surprised in the least.
Brad I 100% agree with you. As somebody who was born and raised in Columbus and not really old enough to remember a time without the Crew, I have grown up with this team. I dont understand why we are getting shitted on due to a couple drunk assholes showing their true colors. I have no problem with this site reporting the racist remarks of those individuals and i have no problem with this site portraying the racists on the tapes as the idiots that they are. They are not an accurate representation of our club or our city.
What I DO have a problem with is this site and commentors taking the actions of a few to launch personal attacks on MY CITY and MY CLUB. We are not a nazi-organization or fascists, yet soccer fans who support our team with passion. We do not support racism or hate language at games. I feel that this site is trying to make Columbus look like we support neo-nazism and are fascists due to the acts of a few annonomous people. To do such a thing is the worst kind of anonymous internet pseudo-journalism possible. Whether it is photoshopping photos to paint a personal friend of mine from the supporters group to make it look like he supports neo-nazism (www.thecolumbusultra.blogspot.com) or connecting perceived dots to fit your agenda, what you have done with these stories is completely dishonest and false. You could have done good by reporting the racism and condemning it, but you went to far by condemning an entire club and city due to a few idiots.
Jordan
Westerville/Columbus Ohio
Columbus til I die
I for one am constantly surprised by the amount of vitriol aimed towards MLS Rumors - particularly from posters on Big Soccer. I find MLS Rumors to be an entertaining site that helps keep MLS exciting on days when there are no games - you just have to take what you read with a grain of salt. With that said, I have noticed an increase in the number of postings to this site that are more along the lines of opinion pieces than rumors which does stand to open up the site to more criticism - particularly to those who have a different opinion. But regardless of how anyone feels about this site, there is absolutely no excuse for taking any stance other than a zero tolerance policy towards the recent events at Crew Stadium. I don't really care one way or the other about the Crew but I do believe that the fan behavior exhibited at their last game was inexcusable. I cannot believe that anyone would even consider using language like that publicly in this day and age and, worse, that anyone would suggest that it should be ignored rather than punished. And to be clear, as a Chicago Fire fan, I would certainly expect Chicago to take a similar amount of criticism if we had fans that used similar language with no consequences. Any Columbus fan who believes that the idiots who made such comments should be ignored rather than publicly shamed deserve similar punishment. And not to be too picky Brad, but if you feel strongly enough to leave your name, you might want to include your last name as well. A first name only is the equivalent of anonymity.
MLSR is to be commended for taking a stand against one of the most horrid events in our young leagues history.
Your decision to take this on has encouraged me to support this site financially whenever possible.
Keep up the great work!
how can anyone deny that here is a racism problem in colmbus. theres just too much evidence that proves it. hope the league comes down hard on them.
Wouldnt stress too much about Bill Archer (hes a fucking idiot who runs his mouth)and quite antiCanadian (without having any knowledge to back it up).
God i hate columbus.
good job mlsr !
The crackdown has already begun with New England (host of probably the strictest security in the league already).
The Revs cancelled with less then 24 hours notice an already approved tifosi put together by the independent Supporter's Association, the Midnight Riders, that was completely harmless (involving balloons)
here is the solution to the problem: move columbus to miami if it happens again. if you cannot control youself or your fan groups than you do not deserve a team. there are plenty of markets out there who would love an mls team. let the deserving cities have teams.
Thank God you're putting this to bed. I'm weary of all this hate-mongering. Yes, there are racists in Columbus. Guess what? There are also racists in Toronto, NY, DC, NE, Chicago, LA, Salt Lake, Denver, Houston, KC and Dallas (psst - not all of them are white either).
You people are only shocked because one of the assholes thought it to be funny and post the video. While he's entitled to his opinion, he also deserves to be banned from the games forever across the country. No chance for appeal. He's clearly a fucking idiot. Let him rot in his own misery after we ban him.
Columbus is a great city. Multi-cultured in their supporters groups, in the team and in the city. The finger-pointing needs to stop. We didn't originate hate, we weren't the first club to unknowingly permit hatemongers into the grounds and we unfortunately won't be the last. Yes, they ruin fun for everyone else.
But dammit! Stop portraying our club and our city as hate-filled. I hate DC and Chicago teams because their rivals. Not because they have a combined contingent of less than a tenth of a percent of fans who are privately or publicly racist. I just want to watch the beautiful game, cheer my team and not have to come to website every fucking day to see more "Hate Columbus, Everyone" editorials that distort views and omit portions of the story.
Continue, please, doing your civic duty by sending these videos to the MLS. They're intelligent enough to understand what is said and how to punish it. But I think it is irresponsible to have someone write this stuff, post it and stir up everyone's emotions when the data is not complete or scewed in any shape or form.
to the Chicago Fire fan who wanted my last name, here it is.
The name is Brad Pulcini. I encourage any visiting supporter to look me up when they come to Columbus , and I will be more than happy to buy you a pint or two and discuss the game and the MLS together.
To the Toronto fan who will not be coming back to Columbus.....I encourage you to rethink it and head back down next year for the Trillium Cup (awful name for our cup between the two teams btw). Although I took some harassment from Toronto fans when I was at BMO, I had a hell of a time with their supporters after the match, and would def. go back. Once again, look me up, and I'll make sure you'll have a good time.
Columbus deserves their team. No city or market should never go through the pain and agony of losing a team to another city. I almost lost my beloved Pens to Kansas City last year, and as a Steeler fan, actually felt for Cleveland when they lost their team to Baltimore. I am sure the supporters in San Jose, and the ones in Miami can tell us how much it sucks. I would never wish on another city that they lose their team.
Omg MLS Rumors has blown this way out of proportion. There is no need at all that points should be deducted or the Crew play in front of any empty stadium. Its not like there was a riot or any player or fans was injured at the game. All that should happen is that the guy is identified and banned.
I love how you people use my name on your page, but do not publish the comments I sent you. Cowards.
Well Mike, that is because they were over the top in their vulgarity. We reserve the right to moderate posts. If you don't like it, there is nothing keeping you here.
Besides, consider it a favor, after all we doubt you'd have wanted your clients to come across them in a google search, would you?
You wrote:
"Not only that but they enlisted people who we once respected like Bill Archer and Mike Lastort in an on-going misplaced effort to tear us apart and "take down" our site. "
No one enlisted my help to do anything. That's not to say that I wouldn't love to see your libelous slanderous little blog taken down, but I came to that conclusion completely on my own.
Also, I despise racism in any form. I think that the person responsible for the racial slur should be banned from all MLS stadia. For life.
However, your assertion that a vast majority or even a small minority of Columbus Crew fans are racists is completely fabricated.
I bet you won't print this comment. Prove me wrong.
Isn't Columbus the same place that DCUnited supporter got a gun pulled on him outside the stadium?
MLSR I still think half the stuff you put up is garbage, but it has improved and after all the name states "rumors" so piss off haters.
PS- No clue why everyone hated on Jade, a chick that into soccer is cool in my book, scrubs probably angry they can't get a date.
Loyal TFC fan here and I say keep up the good work. You report negative things of all teams when they happen and I can't figure out how people think it's a bad thing. I'm glad you posted the video's of what happened with Toronto/Montreal fans and I think if any of them are identifiewd they should be banned as well. There is no need for this in sports. How does watching a football match have anything to do with fighting someone? I've gone to several TFC away games and there is always someone from the other team beforehand saying they're going to fight us. It happens when away fans come to Toronto as well. There will always be the bad seeds but everyone needs to do their part to ensure that this culture does not come to the beautiful game in North America.
Thank you MLS Rumors for all of the work you're doing on this story, and not hiding from the contravercy. I believe in what you're doing, and don't let anyone change it.
FWIW, I could tell what was facts and what was conjecture - seems to me MLSR was raising the possibility "a small minority of Columbus Crew fans are racists" and I chose not to believe it one way or another. Now, if more proof were to present themselves, that would be different.
I understand how Crew supporters might be upset about this, but they also need to realize we readers can differentiate between accusations/rumors and reality. They don't need to feel all "victimized" by this and must defend their team/city/fan's honor.
lol @ writing in your own comments.
Another TFC fan here. I am glad MLSR is reporting here, but I agree they need to be careful not to go overboard painting the city as racist.
Sadly there are racist idiots in every city. I don't think the Crew should be deducted points though. Not fair to the majority of their fans.
To me the real story is Nazi imagery used by the supporter group. What the heck are they thinking. This group should be tossed out of the stadium.
If there are non-racist members to that supporter group, and I am sure there are, they should take a close look at what they are supporting, because it is likely only a couple of idiots in charge.
Can someone explain to me the german theme? What is the connection? Does Columbus have some exceptionally large German community?
The whole militant Nazi imagery has got to be dealt with. Not cool.
I hope our TFC roadtrip did not draw these nazi wannabes out of the woodwork. That would just be sad.
MLSRumors has done more for the game this past year than most other MLS-related websites in the past combined. That's why MLSR rules.
Columbus does have a large german population and history, yes. not to mention a german manager.
Peteo, The difference is grammatical, Every time it is stated that "Columbus is racist", It gets taken personally, It comes across as an attack of the city as a whole, not just the Columbus Crew and the Columbus idiot fan. If you change that to Columbus has some racist fans", it might be recieved differently. MLSR's headline doesn't specify about some fans. It groups Columbus fans as one entity, so of course we are going to get defensive. I have attended Crew games since their inception. And I will honestly say that I have never heard comments like that. I Admit that I sit pretty far away from that corner, and sit with a somewhat older crowd. The fact that this incident gives the Crew a black eye sucks. I don't think anyone really wants to brush this under the rug. The actions were embarrassing and the guilty party should be dealt with. I think the attempt to downplay the incident is based on the perception that already appears to have happened. The actions of one or two idiots becomes the representation of all Columbus fans. Now the 99.9% of the Crew fans get grouped in with these idiots and are stereotyped as racists. that is not received well. I don't hear anyone now saying that all of Toronto is violent because of the actions of a few idiots after the match. Grouping the entire fan base base on the actions of a few is inexcusable.
To Toronto fan, You state that you "felt the comments had a racial undertone." All that does is feed the flames. The fact that nothing was actually said to you will quickly become lost and your comment will become another fact that Columbus bashers use in their arsenal. Things based in fact (like the video) should be used as evidence, but to just throw out more unsupported comments that will quickly become fact is irresponsible.
-Sean
Everything you have reported on this subject is all fine and good except for your borderline libelous efforts comparing Crew supporters Nazi hate groups. You can post the videos of the individuals yelling racist remarks and let people know how disgusting it is, but you cross the line when you start comparing the Crew and its fans to Nazis.
I have laid out in detail in comments posted MULTIPLE TIMES (which haven't been posted) what was exactly wrong with your "Nazi" post including links to the pictures you used. I sent the comments all over to Crew fans. They have been posted on BigSoccer and I put them on my personal blog.
To absolutely ignore them and not post them when they truly showed the comparisons in your "investigation" to be a farce is what absolutely disgusted me.
If you need a definition of why some have considered resorting to legal action...
Libel - An untruthful statement about a person, published in writing or through broadcast media, that injures the person's reputation or standing in the community. Because libel is a tort (a civil wrong), the injured person can bring a lawsuit against the person who made the false statement. Libel is a form of defamation , as is slander (an untruthful statement that is spoken, but not published in writing or broadcast through the media).
By taking completely different images and drawing comparisons of Columbus fans to Nazis, you did just that.
I do not know the owner of Crewture or The Ultra but they could certainly consider legal action if they want to.
Racist or not, Columbus Crew supporters have to deal with this better. Pointing the fingers at media outlets is not a constructive way to resolve this.
This problem could have been diffused immediately if the supporters identified the guilty party on the spot and put the word out that it would not happen again.
But, instead we get excuses (and that's the worst part of all this).
And no, I do not believe a point deduction penalty is unreasonable. Bottom line, if the same thing happened in Europe, there would unquestionably be a penalty.
The Crew's fan base has to take responsibility for the actions of the people within that section. What is so hard to understand? I don't care if he was drunk or just misguided, that has no place in the sport.
We ruined nothing. Some stupid idiot, probably not even a real supporter. He is the one we should attack. This blog has made many sensationalist claims, most of which it has not even tried to defend. I'm sure my comment will be blocked, but oh well. Our fans are top notch, no matter what you might say. We will find the idiot and get him gone!
I just find it amazing that this editorial is entiltled "Our final thoughs on Columbus." Why not " Our final thoughts on the Columbus fan or few fans?" I've been to quite a few Crew games and have never witnessed anything like the video. But as we have all seen it did in fact take place, but it was not a stadium-wide or Columbus incident. It was some idiot or small group of idiots making fools of themselves. And to state that there was a "circle the wagons mentality" is just completely immature and irresponsible. My guess would be that evertime someone from MLSR sees someone doing something wrong or breaking the law, they call the police or drag them off to jail themselves. Otherwise, wouldn't that be hypocritcal???
MLS Rumours, you are to be commended for staying on this issue. There is no place at all in MLS for this sort of behavior and the Crew should be held accountable for this fan's actions. If you don't hold the club accountable, the fans will not police themselves. Time after time after time around the world this has proven to be true. Crew fans as a whole are not guilty of this problem, but the Crew is the only organized force capable of carrying out any kind of solution and should bear the brunt of any kind of punishment. In a year where an African-American is a major party presidential candidate and an Indian-American is being considered as the other party's vice-presidential candidate, the time could not be more auspicious to crack down on this sort of behavior. Kudos to you MLS Rumours. Never, ever back down.